Holidays are not merely moments of rest or recreation—they are sacred turnings in the spiral of time, where the cosmos opens just a little more clearly to us. We call these days of observance Îuoi, and they help us mark the changes in season, celestial shifts, agricultural patterns, and mythic moments of our tradition. While no single fixed liturgical calendar is required in your house custom, holidays provide an excellent framework for developing both group and house customs. These customs build continuity, deepen familial and spiritual bonds, and allow the development of a unique culturally rooted mythos.
Trinox Samoni: The Festival of Three Nights of Samonios
Trinox Samoni is the only holiday explicitly named in the Coligny Calendar, the lunar-solar-based calendar of the ancient Gauls. The name translates to “Three Nights of Samonios,” and on the Coligny Calendar falls on 17 Samonios, which would be the third quarter moon around the Summer Solstice. Because this is the only explicitly attested holiday by name, Trinox Samoni holds a central place in most Gaulish pagan customs, including BNG. That said, it is understood that many Galatîs will celebrate it in their own way, depending on house tradition, climate, and personal relationship with the spirits and gods. Remember diversity is not a weakness—it is a living testimony to the adaptable, local nature of ancient Gallic religion. In this sense, we are all celebrating Trinox Samoni together, even if it looks different from hearth to hearth. You can read more about Trinox Samoni HERE.
The Coligny Calendar: A Framework, Not a Requirement
The Coligny Calendar gives us a fascinating glimpse into how the Gauls may have seen sacred time—tracking lunar months, intercalary periods, and special notations for mat (good) or anmat (not good) days. However, you do not need to use the Coligny Calendar to practice Gaulish Paganism. It is complex, occasionally obscure, and likely varied regionally even in its own time.
That said, it can be a fun and meaningful tool for those who wish to align their practice with the historical rhythms of the Gauls. Using it can help cultivate a sense of cosmic rhythm, and it invites deeper reflection on how time and sacred observance intertwine. As you have gathered from our site, we in BNG use the Coligny Calendar to mark our days.
Creating House-Based Seasonal Mythology
In BNG, we deeply encourage the creation of household mythology and seasonal storytelling that lives along with the Bessus of BNG. This practice roots your home in sacred time and gives personal meaning to your observances. This isn’t about inventing deities (though you can honor lesser spirits or ancestors this way)—it’s about telling the story of the seasons through the values, land, and spirits that shape your household’s life.
Here are some ways to begin building your house custom:
- Reflect on your local climate and ecology. When do the trees bloom? When do the birds leave or return? Let the land itself inform your spiritual rhythm.
- Establish a mythic pattern: is your year shaped by a journey, a sacred marriage, a battle between light and dark, a weaving of the worlds?
- Use local or ancestral figures. Perhaps an ancestral hero blesses the home each spring, or a house spirit brings the cold in winter only to be banished with warmth in the spring rites.
- Mark solstices, equinoxes, or cross-quarters with rituals, feasts, and stories that evolve over time.
Over time, these stories can become ritualized, forming the backbone of your household observances. These do not replace the dêuoi or BNG festivals and holidays—but complement them, anchoring the divine into the specific soil of your life.
A Living Calendar for a Living Religion
In total, the calendar of BNG is a fusion of the old and the new. It honors what we know of the past—like Trinox Samoni—while giving space for Uindonnâ (inspiration, Awen) to guide us in forming new expressions. Whether you follow the Coligny Calendar closely, use the solar cycle, or establish your own hybrid, the core of the practice remains: to celebrate the cycles of life, death, and rebirth in harmony with the Dêuoi, Regentiâ, and Dêuoi Dumnosê.
Closing Reflection
To celebrate the Îuoi is to pause and rejoin the sacred web. In Bessus Nouiogalation, this means cultivating rituals that make meaning from season and story alike. You do not need to do it perfectly. What matters is that you do it sincerely. Whether with a fire on the longest night, an offering at first planting, or a tale told every harvest, your holidays help weave your place into the larger song of the cosmos.
Bessus Nouiogalation 